A Fresh Look at the Birth Process: The Body-Mind Connection

by **Gaia's Child** on Fri Apr 04, 2008 3:52 pm

A Fresh Look at the Birth Process: The Body-Mind Connection

This article is reproduced with permission from Danette Watson and Stephanie Corkhill Hyles, from the book . We thank them profusely for sharing their wisdom with us. You can buy their book, 25 Ways to Awaken Your Birth Power at http://www.awakenyourbirthpower.com/

The Role of the Subconcious Mind

Many women prepare for birth with a goal of feeling more in control of their birth experience. But it is important to understand that we are not meant to be consciously in control of the birth process any more than we are meant to be consciously in control of the beating of our own hearts or the development of our baby in utero.

Our subconscious mind is in control and orchestrates things beautifully without our concious input. The subconcious mind is, in fact, the orchestra conductor of the body. It regulates most of our vital functions including heartbeat, blood pressure, breathing, blood circulation, sleeping patterns, involuntary muscle contractions and reproduction and labour.

As your baby develops in your womb, you do not have to think: Oh my Goodness! It's Day Three and I haven't even made enough nerve cells yet! And pretty soon, I'll be flat out making the liver- I better work extra hard on those nerves today! Don't worry- your subconscious mind has everything under control. Your job is to stay healthy so your body has all the inputs it needs to create a healthy baby.

Similarly, when you go into labour, you do not have to consciously think: OK, it has been about 10 months, I think baby and I are ready. I'll release a bit of relaxin now to relax my pelvis. Now some oxytocin to start contraction of my uterus. I'll just build up gradually and when the contractions are good and strong, I'll release some endorphins to help me through the contractions. Relax, your subconcious mind has everything under control. Your job is to stay healthy (in body and mind) so your body had all the inputs it needs to have a healthy labour and birth.

However, it is important to know that even though your subconcious mind has everything under control, you can affect your subconcious mind and the involuntary functions it controls. This means you can positively affect the birth process. In fact, this is your main job during labour and birth: to allow your body to do what it knows how to do without affecting it through negative thoughts and actions. And ideally, you will facilitate your labour through positive thoughts and actions.

Having a Negative Effect on Labour

Any internal or external conditions that cause you to feel stress and fear negativity affect the birth process. When you feel stressed and fearful, you resist labour and tense your body. Excessive tension causes increased pain. Increased pain leads to more stress and fear and more tension and pain in an escalating cycle.

Dr Grantly Dick-Read, the Father of Natural Childbirth, first described this Fear-Tension-Pain cycle in his landmark book Childbirth Without Fear. This cycle is a stress response that creates pain, fatigue and less effective contractions by causing:

*A release of adrenalin and catecholamines, stress hormones that block the normal labour hormones,
*Excessive tension in the lower, circular muscle fibres of the uterus,
*Excessive tension in abdominal, lower back, pelvic, buttock, thigh and perineal muscles, and
*More oxygen being diverted to the arms and legs and away from the uterus and the muscles involved in childbirth.

Knowing about this stress response often helps women understand the difficult labours and unpleasant birth experiences they have heard so much about.

Having a Positive Effect on Labour

Anything that helps you feel relaxed, positive and trusting and helps you communicate that all is well to your subconcious mind facilitates the birth process. This is where 25 Ways to Awaken Your Birth Power is such a positive tool. It helps you:

RELAX. When you move into a state of relaxation, the filter that is normally active between your conscious and subconscious mind is lowered. Your subconscious mind is open and receptive to whatever inputs you choose.

BREATE DEEPLY. Breathing is an involuntary function (controlled by the subconscious mind) that we can easily take conscious control of. When we consciously breathe slowly and deeply, we move into a state of relaxation. We create a link between our conscious and subconscious mind.

VISUALISE. For the subconscious mind, a picture is worth a thousand words; its language is imagery. Positive images about birth and about yourself, when held firmly during a state of relaxation, have a strong influence on your sunconcious mind.

FOCUS ON POSITIVE THOUGHTS. The subconscious mind responds to repetition. Positive thoughts about yourself and about the birth process, repeated again and again, become stored in your subconcious and associated with labour and birth.

FOCUS ON POSITIVE EMOTIONS. The subconscious mind relates to strong emotion. The part of your brain that is your subconscious mind includes your limbic system, the emotional centre of your brain. This is why your bodily functions are affected to a large degree by your emotions. Focusing on positive emotions during birth facillitates the work of your subconscious mind.

Using the relaxation, deep breathing, visualisation and focus on positive thoughts and emotions in 25 Ways to Awaken Your Birth Power, you can tap into the power of your subconcious mind and have a positive effect on your labour and birth.